Things I do for Tony

So Tony works for a design build firm in Boston, and since it's construction work (for the most part) he eats a lot of food! He also works with four other men who also eat a lot of food, and since their company is really ecologically conscious I thought that I might make them some super-awesome lunch bags to reduce their dependency on plastic shopping bags, which they all used previously to carry their lunches in. So I made one as a test out of some canvas I had laying around the house, and sent it off with Tony. That day he came home and told me that everybody wanted one, and to make them ASAP. Well, that was about a month ago, and last night I finally caved and busted out three more bags for the boys. They aren't the most beautiful creations, but seeing as they end up looking like Tony's (see before/after shot) I don't think anymore time should be spent on them.


Also note the sweet initials Tony personally stitched onto scraps and then sewed into the bags, yeah that's not my sewing you see there!

Cool Things

Pretty sweet looking chair by Rush Pleansuk check out his porfolio here

Sun is shining... sort of

So I took it upon myself to get the hell out ye-olde-apartment today and made my way over to Coolidge Corner for some much needed TJ shopping, and wound up buying a HUGE cucumber! It looked so yummy and the sun was kind of out and it was really hot so I had to buy it. Then I got home and thought " hmmmm, what do I do with this?". Since it's just Tony and I in the house and he's not one to munch on cucumber sticks I had to find an alternative. Then I remembered what my sister told me about re-using the pickling fluids (there must be a better term for this) leftover from empty jars of pickles. They make a slightly less- pickley pickle, but still really good. So I cut up my cuke and I'm making me some pickles! Has anybody else tried this before? I'm curious if they are still going to be yummy, and since I have discerning palette for pickles I'll let all of you know how it goes!

Today I wish

that I had the sun shining and tire swing to swing on. I think that is one of my unfulfilled child-hood desires. We never had a tire swing in our yard, but our cousins did, and I remember it being so much fun to swing on! I also remember begging our Dad to make us one with one of his old tractor tires, and it never coming to fruition. Oh well, just being whiney again due to the weather- and these photos are making me want the sun to come out even more!

Yes Please!

Loving these clutches from kailochic on etsy. She has tons of patterns and some even have earrings that match! I'm tempted to pick up a few- I mean even the inside is adorable, and really who doesn't need a clutch or two for their wardrobe?

Fun things for a not so fun week

It's till rainy and depressing as hell here in the Northeast. For June 23rd this weather is unacceptable (do you hear that mother nature?) and frankly I'm just tired and moody. But there is a fun game-ish thing at Paper Source's website called Colorscope that tells you about your color personality. Kind of quirky and odd, but also a bit fun. Check out my results below>

I'm craving this

A few weeks ago my friend Aaron and his gal pal + a few others created some masterpiece meats with his super awesome smoker/ grill thing. The result was something like a party in my mouth. But enough of that! Bask in the glory of this pulled pork sandwich. Mind you, prior to this sandwich experience I wouldn't have crossed my mind to even consume anything pulled pork-ish, so thanks Aaron for letting me see the light.

check out his food creations here lickmybalsamic.com - sweet name huh?

and this..

architectural blueprint graphics HOT!

via cargo collective

Lurve this!

How cute is this kitchen. I'm loving these colors and the retro range. Sign me up please!



You check out the rest of Hannah Berman's home (its awesome) over at Design*sponge. They have great stuff over there (I have blogger envy)

Guilty Pleasure

Okay folks, I have a secret... I read perezhilton as one of my guilty pleasures. I know, I know- lame right? I get it I really do- but it's like this awful addiction. Similar to reading all of the headlines to the national enquirer while waiting to ring up your groceries, but this at least is in the comfort of my home. Suffice to say- I'm not giving it up anytime soon. However, my guilty pleasure is not the reason I'm writing about perezhilton. I'm writing because today, while scrolling through his site I found this...



This is about an organization in my home town! Westfield, MA folks- and thank god it wasn't about something crazy or scandalous. Well... thats it- just thought I'd share that tid-bit with you all. It is a small strange world we live in folks... small and strange.

A SPECIAL THANKS TO

My cat- for being really supportive and a huge help along the way! :)

Project 2.0 - It's done!

I can't actually believe I went into this not knowing anything about re-upholstering, but I have to say that despite my sore finger tips, this was relatively pain-free!

There were a few surprises (of course) along the way, like reconstructing the webbing for the cushion. This I did using some extra canvas I had lying around, then there was the cording that I made, but that was really easy! The only difficult part was only having two sets of hands, a third or fourth would have been helpful!

Hope this inspires you guys to go out there and tackle your own projects, its definitely worth it in the long run.

Project 2.0 update!

I have spent all day on the floor cutting and sewing bits and pieces, and at the end of the day I have a chair that is in little pieces and cushion sewn!!! I'm so excited that it came out nice, and not ugly at all. Upholstery really isn' t that hard, it's kind of like a big multi-dimensional puzzle that you take apart and put back together.

Here are some process pics. Expect a final after shot soon!

COOL THINGS

On my walking tour I managed to stop by Urban Outfitters to check out their advertised "yard sale" to see if indeed they had any cheap things (since this is a rare occurrence). To my dismay they didn't- but they did have some cool home accessories that I snapped a few pics of. The first being the letters- they have them in metal and paper options in bold colors and I think various fonts... I can't remember exactly. I may have been trying to hide my camera from some "employees" or those people who hang around there and occasionally ring up your purchases. The second find were these cute sets of tupper-ware-esque dishes that buckle together to create a lunch-box type unit. For $20.00 it wasn't worth it- but it was cute enough for me to pause and think about it. Enjoy!

Coveting: Rooftop Gardens

Walking around the city yesterday, I realized how many buildings have sweet rooftop gardens. These two are just some of the hundred that I probably saw- but their location to the public garden and views of the city sort of make them the most ideal and I'm incredibly jealous of them both!

Project 2.0

So this is a new project, one that I hadn't really considered up until the past few weeks. This tub chair is something that Tony and I purchased together about two years ago for $10.00 from these old men who put up a flea market on corner of Jersey Street and Queensbury Street in the Fens, on pretty much any day they feel like it. The bones of the piece are great, and despite it having a huge tear in the middle of the seat, we felt it was a bargain. Now after a few years of upgrades in other pieces of furniture, we were in the market for a new chair, but I decided that maybe I could start training my upholstery muscles on this little piece with the hopes of eventually re-upholstering our SOFA. So on Tuesday I went for a walk down to Winmill Fabrics in Chi-Town and did some shopping and for 15.00 bucks I walked out with some orange threads and a little bit of hope!

Sunny Days in Boston

Although they aren't rare (contrary to what people may believe) we haven't had one in a few days here- but Today was glorious and I spend most of it outside walking around. Luckily I had my handy-dandy camera with me and I took some shots of different things I noticed and love about this city. Look for these photos in the next few entries- I'm really excited about them!

Sometimes I love gourmet magazine

Like today, when Apartmenttherapy led me to their summer cocktail page, where they are slowly releasing drinks from various era's as the summer lingers on. So far the 40's and 50's have been revealed and I'm impressed. I'm not a big drinker, and I probably won't taste or even bother trying to mix these myself, but I'm currently salivating over them all. They just look so thirst quenching and delicious. I guess that's what they are supposed to be huh? Yummers

Here's your link for the 1940's link and the 1950's

People I admire

Can you guess who they are?
Unless you are a huge design buff, or incredibly thorough historian or maybe a pop culture enthusiast you probably can't. Tony and I had discussed this last night, and we agreed that Designers work speaks for them, providing them a little bit of mystery and anonymity: a trait that I find undeniably appealing in world where looks are almost more important than brains ie. paris hilton.

cheat sheet:
Le Corbusier
Marcel Wanders
Charles and Ray Eames (Tony and I in about 10 years)
Mie Van der rohe
Phillipe Starck

SWOON

This dining area is hot enough for me to consider maxing out my credit card to purchase. Even if I'd only be buying two chairs! But for real this combo of white Louis Chairs and an over-sized pendant with the matte coal fireplace behind? I'm totally digging it.

Here is the rest of the tour over at Wall Street Journal : here

Yes, Please

I want this right now


via onetwofivego on etsy

Craigslist Finds

Check out these cool filing cabinets. The only question is what do I put in them? At $45 for the pair it's a steal! I want them, but don't think I have any use for them...bummer.

Check them out here

Strawberry Picking!

With the recent re-acquisition (is that a word?) of my high-school car, Tony and I are finally able to do lots of things that over the past few years we have been unable to do. Staring with: Strawberry Picking. Actually if I rewind a bit I really wanted to go apple picking, but seeing as the season for that isn't for another 3 months we are doing what is in season, and that is strawberries! So this weekend we are going to go get our fill of strawberries at Tougas' farm out in Northboro, MA. Then I'm going to come home and make lots of sweets and maybe even some jams.

Tougas Farm Website

Remedies

As a kid my mother always made us either A.) Cinnamon & Sugar toast, or B.) Lipton Noodle soup for us kids when we were sick. Now that I'm a grown adult and don't have somebody waiting on my every beck and whim- I still crave those foods when I'm feeling crummy. Why is that? I mean as far as nutritional value goes that sugar toast is null and void. The soup I can understand due to its throat soothing heat, but the sodium content probably wasn't doing us any favors. So why do I still want this stuff? I have no freakin' clue. All I know is that last night I was in sickness bliss while sipping on my salty noodle soup, and I liked it. So cheers to you Lipton and you pre-packaged goodness

Remembering: Spirographs

This creation was probably one of my favorite toys as a kid. Now that I'm older I can still find the simple pleasures of creating repetitive forms with plastic templates. I can also go buy one, and as soon as I cash in my super huge paycheck (yeah I bet your jealous)at the bank I can buy my self one of these. Now that is something that I don't take advantage of enough; doing what I want and buying things that like. Gosh-darn-it I'm an adult now, I can eat Oreos for dinner and buy Spirographs! That is exactly what I'm going to do (sans Oreos for dinner).

Entertaining on your stoop?

The inspiration for this topic stems from NY Times article about city dwellers who are taking their dinner and cockatil parties to the streets instead of their cramped NYC apartments. In theory this idea is great right? The city is your playground, backyard and dining room? However there is a little bit of a skepticism tingling inside of me that is threatening to overturn my initial inspirational thoughts. The reason? Well, privacy or rather invasion of privacy; and I'm not talking about the hosts or attendants. I'm talking about the people who live on the first floor and have to listen to a bunch of yuppies talk about the crumbling economy and their attempts to be greener, as their voices raise higher and higher with each sip of their cocktail. Yes- I recognize that that is one of those things you have to deal with when you live in the city- but knowing that a restaurant is a few feet below your window when you move in is a far cry from impromptu dinner parties on your front steps. The jury is still out on this one- but I do love these pictures and the idea is still cool, but I'm not sold.

Check out full article here NY TIMES

Out of town

Sorry everyone for the lack of postings here. It was a busy week filled with out of town guests, work, graduations and wedding dress shopping! According to my Knot homepage I only have 480 days until my wedding- YIKES! How did that happen?

I've been spending lots of time finding inspiration from blogs and the inter-webs lately so I thought that I would share some of those pics with you all today since I am terribly under the weather. I may just have the swine flu !

Furniture for Lunch

I'm in love with Urban Hardwoods furniture. They utilize the natural beauty found in the lines and edges of raw wood planks like with this mirror! It is breathtaking and truly unique. I think that this could work in any style house, and I'm really trying to think of way on making this a DIY project. I'm not sure if it's possible but this is really stunning!

Sycamore Mirror VIA UrbanHardwood